The chronological information about Noah’s age makes us realize that Noah serves as a link between the pre-Flood and the post-Flood civilizations. The last two verses of the preceding story (Genesis 9:28-29) take us back to the last link of the genealogy of Adam (Genesis 5:32). Because Adam died when Lamech, Noah’s father, was 56 years old, Noah must surely have heard stories about Adam, which he could have transmitted to his descendants before and after the Flood.

Read Genesis 10:1-32. What is the purpose of this genealogy in the Bible? (See also Luke 3:23-38.)

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The biblical genealogy has three functions. First, it emphasizes the historical nature of the biblical events, which are related to real people who lived and died and whose days are precisely numbered. Second, it demonstrates the continuity from antiquity to the contemporary time of the writer, establishing a clear link with the past to the “present.” Third, it reminds us of human fragility and of the tragic effect of sin’s curse and its deadly results on all the generations that have followed.

Note that the classification of “Hamite,” “Semite,” and “Japhethite” does not follow clear criteria. The 70 nations foreshadow the 70 members of the family of Jacob (Genesis 46:27) and the 70 elders of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 24:9). The idea of a correspondence between the 70 nations and the 70 elders suggests the mission of Israel toward the nations: “When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 32:8, NKJV). Along the same line, Jesus sends 70 disciples to evangelize (Luke 10:1).

What this information shows us is the direct link between Adam and the patriarchs; they all are historical figures, real people from Adam onward. This also helps us understand that the patriarchs had direct access to witnesses who had personal memories of these ancient events.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Read Genesis 9:18-27. What is the message of this strange story?

Noah’s act in his vineyard echoes Adam in the Garden of Eden. The two stories contain common motifs: eating of the fruit and resulting in nakedness; then a covering, a curse, and a blessing. Noah reconnects to his Adamic roots and, unfortunately, continues that failed history.

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The fermentation of fruit was not a part of God’s original creation. Noah indulged, then lost self-control and uncovered himself. The fact that Ham “saw” his nakedness hints at Eve, who also “saw” the forbidden tree (Genesis 3:6). This parallel suggests that Ham did not just “see” furtively, by accident, his father’s nakedness. He went around and talked about it, without even trying to take care of his father’s problem. In contrast, his brothers’ immediate reaction to cover their father, while Ham left him naked, implicitly denounced Ham’s actions.

The issue at stake here is more about the respect of one’s parents. Failure to honor your parents, who represent your past, will affect your future (Exodus 20:12; compare with Ephesians 6:2). Hence the curse, which will influence Ham’s future and that of his son Canaan.

Of course, it is a gross theological mistake and an ethical crime to use this text to justify racist theories against anyone. The prophecy is strictly restricted to Canaan, Ham’s son. The biblical author has in mind some of the corrupt practices of the Canaanites (Genesis 19:5-7, Genesis 19:31-35).

In addition, the curse contains a promise of blessing, playing on the name “Canaan,” which is derived from the verb kana‘, meaning “subdue.” It is through subduing of Canaan that God’s people, the descendants of Shem, will enter the Promised Land and prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, who will enlarge Japheth “in the tents of Shem” (Genesis 9:27). This is a prophetic allusion to the expansion of God’s covenant to all nations, which will embrace Israel’s message of salvation to the world (Daniel 9:27, Isaiah 66:18-20, Romans 11:25). The curse of Ham will, in fact, be a blessing for all nations, including whichever descendants of Ham and Canaan accept the salvation offered them by the Lord.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Genesis 9:18-11:9, Luke 10:1, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 1:26-33, Psalm 139:7-12, Genesis 1:28, Genesis 9:1.

Memory Text: “Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9, NKJV).

After the Flood, the biblical account shifts from the focus on the single individual, Noah, to his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The particular attention on Ham, the father of Canaan (Genesis 10:6, Genesis 10:15), introduces the idea of “Canaan,” the Promised Land (Genesis 12:5), an anticipation of Abraham, whose blessing will go to all nations (Genesis 12:3).

However, the line is broken by the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). Once again, God’s plans for humankind are disrupted. What was supposed to be a blessing, the birth of all nations, becomes another occasion for another curse. The nations unite in order to try to take God’s place; God responds in judgment on them; and, through the resulting confusion, the people get scattered throughout the world (Genesis 11:8), thus fulfilling God’s original plan to “fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1, NKJV).

In the end, in spite of human wickedness, God turns evil into good; He has, as always, the last word. The curse of Ham in his father’s tent (Genesis 9:21-22) and the curse of the confused nations at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:9) will, eventually, be turned into a blessing for the nations.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, April 30.

Sunday–>

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Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8EKHZ8A2Y4&w=560&h=315]

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Faithful Grandparents

By Andrew McChesney

In the evening, after it was too dark to work in the maize field, the Reyneke family gathered around a large kitchen table for supper on their small farmhouse in central South Africa. Father, Mother and their seven boys and four girls ate homegrown food every evening: maize porridge along with potatoes, pumpkin, and meat. Afterward, the children cleared away the dishes, and Father opened his Dutch Bible for family worship.

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On this particular evening, Father opened the Bible to Exodus 20 and read, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work” (Exodus 20:8-10; NKJV).

“Listen,” Father said, puzzled. “It says here, ’Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest.’” The idea of resting on the seventh day was new to him. He and the family had always observed the first day, Sunday, as the Sabbath, but the Bible said otherwise.

Father made a note in the margin of his Bible. Beside the words, “Six days you shall labor,” he wrote, “Plow time.” Beside the words, “On the seventh day you shall rest” he wrote, “Rest time.” The matter was clear to him. His family started keeping the seventh-day Sabbath. Families took notice on the neighboring farms, and soon three of them also were keeping the Sabbath.

Time passed, and a Seventh-day Adventist literature evangelist stopped by the farm and sold Father a little Dutch-language book titled, “God’s Covenant With Man.”

Through the book, Father and Mother learned about the Seventh-day Adventist Church for the first time. They understood that other people also worshiped on the seventh-day Sabbath.

While there is no historical record of Father and Mother joining the Seventh-day Adventist Church, four of their 11 children became Adventists. One of their grandsons is Gideon Reyneke, a pastor who helps oversee mission work in South Africa and 14 other countries as executive secretary of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division.

Gideon said he owes his Adventist heritage to faithful grandparents who simply read the Bible and obeyed it in the 1920s. “We pray that by telling this story from generation to generation, it will yield results and bring many more people to Jesus Christ,” he said.

This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help spread the gospel in Gideon Reyneke’s home Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division. Thank you for planning a generous offering.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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